This article written by four professors in India outlined their successful
efforts to educate medical interns on rational use through a three day
workshop. Their focus on public education began when they published the first
edition of “The Complete Family Medicine Book” in 1978 to provide
drug information to the general public. The fifth edition was released in 1990.
In 1986, the professors began a rational use curriculum with interns for two
hours, four days per week. It consisted of lectures and discussions with
faculty members from various departments. By the third week, attendance
dwindled because the interns felt the course was too theoretical. This
motivated the professors to reconstruct the programme into a practically
oriented two-day workshop, which was later extended to three days. The interns
gave more positive feedback once this change was made. Other educational
initiatives that the professors created include a manual for training interns
on the essential drugs concept and rational use, a workshop for teachers to
train interns, and a workshop for practitioners. According to the article, the
expansion of programmes to teachers has led to other institutions creating
their own rational use workshops in places like Milan, Tokyo and Stockholm.